Signs of Life :: Spring 2010

Small stories about big change

One of the largest refugee camps in Port-au-Prince is in the city’s football stadium, the Stade Sylvio Cator. Thousands of homeless earthquake victims have made shelters scavenged from fallen buildings.

HAITI

“Pro-poor” Relief for Haiti

In the aftermath of the Jan. 12 earthquake that is believed to have killed more than 150,000 people, a call is growing for more long-term, sustainable solutions, such as debt relief.

The Caribbean island nation, which suffers from a legacy of political unrest, environmental devastation, and financial ruin, has staggered under the weight of debt since it won independence from France more than 200 years ago.

Today, the poverty-stricken nation of some 9 million people is more than $1 billion in debt, and relief organizations and some government leaders are pushing for solutions that allow Haitians to focus on “recovery, not repayment.”

The World Council of Churches and other groups have pushed for aid to come in the form of grants, not loans, so that Haitians can move forward with rebuilding their country without shouldering ever more debt. Canada’s more than $100 million in assistance, for example, comes from grants; Canada canceled Haiti’s debt last fall. In late January, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez canceled Haiti’s $295 million debt to Petrocaribe, Venezuela’s regional energy distributor.

Humanitarian aid was disorganized and debt relief contentious—and ultimately, limited— after the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. Nick Dearden, director of the Jubilee Debt Campaign, appealed to the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and governments around the world to avoid the “half measures” that followed the tsunami and to pursue debt cancellation.

Robert Glasser, international secretary general of CARE, said help needs to extend beyond the immediate emergency to reconstruction. He urged donors to back not only debt relief but policies and programs that are “pro-poor.” “This is not the first, nor will it be the last natural disaster to hit Haiti,” said Glasser. “But it is our chance as a community to relieve the country from a terrible debt burden and help Haitians build a new future on a new foundation of equitable development.”

—Kim Eckart is associate editor at YES! Magazine.

Interested?

Beverly Bells Blogs from Haiti: After 30 years working for democracy, women’s rights, and economic
justice in Haiti, Beverly Bell is documenting the impact of the
earthquake on Haiti's grassroots movements.

A Victory for Haiti: How an international, grassroots mobilization helped spur the G7's decision to cancel Haiti's onerous foreign deb

“Haiti isn’t doomed ... If we rally around them now and support them in the right way, the Haitian people can reclaim their destiny.”

Former President Bill Clinton, U.N. special envoy to Haiti, on relief efforts following the January earthquake

HUMAN RIGHTS

Protests Mount Against Israeli Blockade of Gaza

In a series of protests across the Arab world, activists have demanded
an end to the siege of the Gaza Strip and expressed outrage at the
Egyptian government for actions that reflect the political will of
Israel and the United States.

The largest of these protests was the Gaza Freedom March, in which
1,362 activists from 43 countries gathered in Egypt to attempt to cross
the border into Gaza. The march, which began Dec. 30, occurred one year
after an Israeli bombing campaign left approximately 1,400 dead in the
Gaza Strip.

The march was meant to raise awareness of Israel and Egypt’s blockade
of Gaza, which is considered illegal under international human rights
and humanitarian law. Despite extensive planning and initial approval
from Egyptian authorities, the Freedom March was halted when Egypt
restricted the number of entries to just 100 participants and canceled
the buses that would take the activists to the Rafah border crossing,
citing “security reasons.”

Israel has maintained its blockade since June 2006, preventing
desperately needed food and medical supplies from reaching Gaza’s 1.5
million citizens. Exports also have been almost completely restricted,
devastating the Gazan economy. The siege could worsen in the coming
months as Egypt continues construction of an underground security
barrier meant to block the tunnels running between Gaza and Egypt.
Israel maintains that the tunnels are used to smuggle munitions into
Gaza. The tunnels, however, also have become a main thoroughfare for
food and medical supplies not allowed through the sealed borders.

Demonstrators in Los Angeles last year release 100 white doves at a rally for immigrant rights. Photo by Rise Media.

In the weeks following the Gaza Freedom March, crowds gathered in other
Arab nations protesting the building of the underground barrier and
accusing Egypt of acting as an agent of the Israeli and U.S.
governments.

—YES! Magazine staff

ALSO ...Legalizing undocumented immigrants would boost the U.S. economy by $1.5
trillion over the next decade through new jobs, higher wages, and
increased consumption, according to a study by the Center for American
Progress and the Immigration Policy Center.

The study comes as Congress
is expected to take up immigration reform. There are an estimated 12
million undocumented residents in the United States.

ECONOMY

Chicago Ward Tries Citizen Budgeting

In a city with a history of corruption and lack of transparency, one
elected official is restoring meaning to the term “public funds.”

Residents of Porto Alegre, Brazil, gather in May for the annual Regional Participatory Budgeting assembly. Porto Alegre was the first city to use participatory budgeting, and during some years all budgeting decisions were discussed and as much as 10 percent was decided directly by residents.

Photo by Michael Fox

Alderman Joe Moore, of Chicago’s 49th Ward, has launched what is
believed to be the United States’ first experiment with “participatory
budgeting,” a grassroots process that lets residents allocate municipal
funding as they see fit. The residents of the far north-side ward will
oversee the budgeting of this year’s $1 million in infrastructure
funds. The city allocates these funds annually to alderpeople to use at
their discretion. Moore decided his residents would know what
infrastructure improvements were needed better than any government
official.

The process started in November 2009 with neighborhood meetings
facilitated by ward officials. There, any ward resident could express
an opinion about how to spend the money. The process was first used in
Brazil in the 1980s and has become popular in Latin America and around
the world.

In the 49th Ward, suggestions ranged from more street lighting to
installing community gardens. From the neighborhood meetings, residents
elected representatives, who then divided into subcommittees to deal
with the different project categories, like arts and public safety.

In March, committee representatives will present ward residents with a
list of final projects for review. By April, the projects should be
underway. If everything goes well, Moore has promised to do this every
year and encourage other politicians to follow his lead.

Oregon voters in January approved two measures that will increase the income tax on wealthy households and on corporations.

Interested?Beyond Tea Party Politics: Oregon voted to increase taxes on corporations and the wealthy to help fund programs that assist low and middle-income families.

CLIMATE CHANGE

Bolivia to Host Climate Summit for the People

Bolivian President Evo Morales has called for an alternative climate-change conference, this one involving governments as well as non-governmental organizations, indigenous groups, scientists, and environmentalists.

Following the weak, nonbinding Copenhagen Accord that came out of the United Nations climate negotiations in December, the World Conference of the People on Climate Change aims to unite nations that want a stronger agreement. Heads of state from Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Cuba are expected to attend the conference in April in Cochabamba.

The conference will explore the issue of climate debt, the idea that industrialized nations—those most responsible for greenhouse-gas emissions—should give substantial aid to the poorer countries that most often suffer the consequences of climate change. Also on the agenda is the proposal of an international court for environmental crimes, which could try nations for crimes against nature, such as the dumping of toxic waste or the destruction of natural resources.

Bolivia was one of five countries to block a consensus on the Copenhagen Accord, claiming a small group of wealthy nations had drawn it up in secret. Many saw Morales as a roadblock to an agreement. Along with advocating for climate debt, he challenged the conference to hold global temperature increases at 1 degree Celsius (as opposed to the 2-degree limit the conference decided upon). This stricter limit on temperature increase would require a far faster and more costly response from industrialized nations to curb greenhouse-gas emissions.

“Our objective is to save [all of] humanity and not just half of humanity,” Morales said in a speech at Copenhagen. “We are here to save Mother Earth. Our objective is to reduce climate change to under 1 C. [Above this] many islands will disappear, and Africa will suffer a holocaust.”

—Margit Christenson is a freelance writer based in New York City.

ALSO ...

Scotland’s remote Isle of Eigghas been awarded a share of a 1 million-pound prize from the United Kingdom’s National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts. The organization’s Big Green Challenge gave Eigg 300,000 pounds to support the island’s commitment to renewable energy.

Residents purchased the island in 1997 and have since installed solar and hydropower facilities that generate nearly all of Eigg’s electricity needs. According to the Ecologist, Eigg residents will use the prize money for additional energy-efficiency projects.

California has made mandatory its green-building code, “Calgreen.” The nation’s first statewide green-building law requires all new buildings to use recycled materials and reduce water consumption. Critics, including the Natural Resources Defense Council and the U.S. Green Building Council, say the regulations aren’t strict enough and may conflict with stronger municipal green-building codes.

“I don’t think American elections should be bankrolled by America’s most powerful interests, or worse, by foreign entities. They should be decided by the American people.”

President Barack Obama,referring in his State of the Union address to the U.S. Supreme Court decision easing restrictions on campaign spending

Supreme Court Justices John Roberts and Samuel Alito, left, prior to President Obama’s State of the Union address in January.

VOTING

Appeals Court Rules Inmates Entitled to Voting Rights

A federal appeals court in January ruled that felons incarcerated in
Washington State have been illegally barred from voting. A panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals said the state’s prison system is
“infected” with racial discrimination and therefore violates voting
laws.

The majority ruled that the ban violated the 1965 National Voting
Rights Act on grounds of racial discrimination. According to a
University of Washington study, racial and ethnic minorities make up 12
percent of Washington’s population, but account for 36 percent of
prison inmates. African Americans are nine times more likely to be
incarcerated than whites; because of this, 25 percent of black men in
Washington are disenfranchised from voting.

A single plaintiff first brought the case to court in 1996; by the time
of this ruling, five more had joined. All are members of minority
groups claiming political discrimination by the state.

Similar cases in other states have gone to trial, but this is the first
ruling in favor of inmates. Only Vermont and Maine allow incarcerated
felons to vote.

Washington State Attorney General Rob McKenna has appealed the 9th Circuit decision to the U.S. Supreme Court.

FOOD

Sweden Labels Food With CO2 Data

Sweden’s largest national chain of burger restaurants, Max, was one of the first to add emissions calculations next to each item on its menu boards.

More than 92 percent of Swedes want more information about the “green
credentials” of their food, and producers responded to satisfy
customers. Some Swedish companies have labeled their products to show
how many kilograms of carbon dioxide were released into the atmosphere
during production.

One Swedish burger chain, Max, offers beef alternatives and
signed on enthusiastically to the new recommendations. It became the
first restaurant chain to publish carbon footprints of menu items to
encourage people to eat less beef.

Determining food’s carbon footprint is difficult and nuanced. Complex
production lines make it difficult to track the carbon footprint of an
individual product, and consumer suggestions are not as simple as “eat
less meat.” For example, the guidelines discourage Swedes from eating
cucumbers and tomatoes because in Sweden they can only be grown in
energy-consuming greenhouses. Low-impact vegetables like carrots are
recommended over the less climate-friendly ones.

—Jeff Raderstrong is a Washington, D.C., writer who blogs at .

ALSO …

Washington State lawmakers have banned BPA (Bisphenol A) in baby bottles and food containers for children younger than 3.

Washington joins Minnesota and Connecticut in prohibiting some BPA products. The state of Wisconsin is considering a ban.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently reversed a 2008 finding
that BPA, the main component of polycarbonate plastic, was safe. The
agency said BPA should be studied further for potential health risks to
children.

Plastics made with BPA typically have a number 7 on the bottom or the letters “PC” in the recycling triangle.

The legislature will have to hammer out differences in House and Senate
versions of the bill; the House version extends the ban to sports
bottles. The rule will go into effect in 2011.

The Worldwatch Institute’s State of the World 2010 warns that global consumerism is unsustainable
and urges a substantial cultural shift .

The economy may propel consumers in that direction. Last fall, a New
York Times/CBS News poll found that Americans are spending less money
and instead turning to cultural events, hobbies, and family activities.
Lower consumer spending is expected during a recession, but the trend
toward “doing more,” experts said, is new.